Name and Date: ______Text: HISTORY ALIVE! The Medieval World

MARK YOUR TEXT FIRST THE GIST!!! Record the GIST of these 1. Place a ! next to extremely important info (main idea). paragraphs using 10 words or less for each 2. Place ? next to paragraph that doesn’t make sense. paragraph. 3. Circle “O” any word/key terms you don’t understand. 4. Place a  if you understand what you read.

24.2 The Aztecs in the Valley of Mexico ______The Aztec Empire arose in the Valley of Mexico, a fertile area nearly eight thousand feet above sea level. By the time the Aztecs ______arrived, in the mid-1200s C.E., the valley had been a center of civilization for more than a thousand years. Two earlier groups, in ______particular, had built civilizations there that strongly influenced the Aztecs. ______

Civilization in the Valley of Mexico From about 100 to 650 ______C.E., the Valley of Mexico was dominated by the Teotihuacáns (TEH -aw-tee-wah-KAHNZ). These people built an enormous ______capital city, Teotihuacán. One of the city’s buildings, the Pyramid of the Sun, was more than two hundred feet high. ______

After Teotihuacán’s collapse around the 700s, a group from the ______north, the Toltecs (TOHL-teks), migrated into the valley. Toltec ______civilization reached its height in the 10th and 11th centuries. The

Toltecs built a number of cities. Their capital, Tollán (toh-LAHN), ______boasted large pyramids topped with temples.

______During the 1100s, new groups invaded the valley. They took over

Toltec cities and established new city-states. But the influence of ______the Teotihuacáns and the Toltecs continued to be felt in the new culture that was developing in the valley. ______

The Arrival of the Aztecs Sometime around 1250 C.E., a new ______group of people arrived in the Valley of Mexico. This nomadic band of hunter-gatherers called themselves the Mexica (meh-HEE- ______kah). We know them today as the Aztecs. ______The name Aztec comes from Aztlán (az-TLAN), the Mexicans’ legendary homeland. According to Aztec tradition, Aztlán was an ______island in a lake northwest of the Valley of Mexico. The Aztecs left ______the island around 1100 C.E. They wandered through the deserts of northern Mexico for many years before coming to the Valley of ______Mexico.

______When the Aztecs came to the heart of the valley, they found lakes dotted with marshy islands. Thriving city-states controlled the land ______aroun d the lakes. The Aztecs had a difficult time establishing themselves in the valley. The people living in the city-states ______thought the Aztecs were crude barbarians. But the Aztecs were fierce warriors, and the city-states were willing to employ them as ______mercenaries. Name and Date: ______Text: HISTORY ALIVE! The Medieval World

MARK YOUR TEXT FIRST ! ? “O”  THE GIST!!! Record the GIST of these paragraphs using 10 words or less for each 24.2 Continued paragraph.

After they settled in the valley, the legacy of the Teotihuacáns and ______the Toltecs began to influence the Aztecs. They made pilgrimages to the ancient ruins of Teotihuacán. They adopted Quetzalcoatl ______(ket -sahl-koh-AHT-l), the Teotihuacáns’ feathered serpent god, as one of their own gods. ______

The Aztecs thought even more highly of the Toltecs, as rulers of a ______golden age. Aztec rulers married into the surviving Toltec royal line. The Aztecs even began to claim the Toltecs as their own ______ancestors. ______In 1319, stronger groups forced the Aztecs to move away from Chapultepec (chuh-PUHL-teh-pek), a rocky hill where they had ______made their home. The Aztecs fled to the south, where they became mercenaries for the city-state of Culhuacán. But trouble came ______again when the Aztecs sacrificed the daughter of the Culhua chief. ______This led to a war with the Culhuas, who drove the Aztecs onto an island in the shallow waters of Lake Texcoco. ______

It was here, the Aztecs said, that they spotted an eagle perched atop ______a cactus with a long snake in its beak. The Aztecs took this as a sign that they should stay in this place, and set to work building the ______city they called Tenochtitlán. The island turned out to be a good site for the Aztecs’ city. The lake provided fish and water birds for ______food, and the island was easy to defend. Over time, the Aztecs’ new home would grow into one of the great cities of the world. ______

From Mercenaries to Empire Builders The Aztecs started ______building Tenochtitlán in 1325 C.E. For the next 100 years, they again served as mercenaries for a powerful group called the ______Tepanecs. Through this alliance the Aztecs gained land, trading connections, and wealth. ______

Eventua lly, however, the Aztecs rebelled against the heavy-handed ______rule of the Tepanecs. Under the Aztec leader Itzcoatl (itz-koh- AHT -l), Tenochtitlán joined with two other city-states in what was ______called the Triple Alliance. In 1428, the alliance fought and ______defeat ed the Tepanecs. Together, the allies began a series of conquests that laid the foundation for the Aztec Empire. ______

As Tenochtitlán became a great power, Itzcoatl set out to reshape ______Aztec history. He burned records that referred to his people’s humble origins. Instead, he connected the Aztecs to the ______distinguished Toltecs.